PatientsLikeMe for Partners Blog

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Benjamin Heywood

Co-Founder, President

Benjamin Heywood is president and director of PatientsLikeMe, the leading online community and personalized medicine platform for patients with life-changing conditions. He is responsible for setting the company vision to improve healthcare and accelerate research, while directing its business growth strategy.

Inspired by his brother Stephen’s battle with ALS, Heywood co-founded the company in 2004 with his other brother, James, and long-time friend, Jeff Cole. Since its inception, Heywood has overseen all stages of the start-up’s growth, including procurement of series A financing, expansion of patient communities, and partnerships with top 20 pharmaceutical companies. Heywood leads a committed staff of 45, who are responsible for product, business and research development as well as carrying out the company’s patient-centric core values. Currently with more than 120,000 patients and over 1,000 conditions reported, PatientsLikeMe has been profiled by top media outlets such as The New York Times Magazine, U.S. News & World Report, Businessweek and Newsweek, as well as ranked #23 out of Fast Company’s “50 Most Innovative Companies in the World” report for 2010. PatientsLikeMe research has also been published in such major scientific publications as Nature Biotechnology, European Journal of Neurology and Movement Disorders.

Prior to launching PatientsLikeMe, Heywood worked in the medical device industry, the entertainment industry, and in speculative residential real estate development. Early in his career, Heywood served in manufacturing and business development roles at Target Therapeutics, the leading designer and manufacturer of microcatheter-based products for the treatment of stroke, which was later acquired by Boston Scientific. He was also a Creative Executive at the film and television production company New Wave Entertainment and produced an award-winning short film, Flush.

A highly regarded thought leader in the Health 2.0 industry, Heywood is a frequent speaker at conferences and source for the news media on topics in this rapdily evolving space. He has been quoted in The New York Times, Newsweek, Fox Business News, CBS Evening News with Katie Couric and numerous trade publications. Recognized in 2008 by Boston Business Journal as a “Champion in Health Care,” Heywood earned his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and received his MBA from the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management.

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